Jun 29, 2016
When my son Brett was in high school marching band his director had a saying that rings true for all of us, “To be on time is to be late; to be early is to be on time!”. In other words, get to your appointment / show early so you have time to gather your thoughts,...
Jun 22, 2016
This happens to all working vents. You write what you think is a great bit for your show and it gets a tepid response. You feel maybe it’s the audience being tired, conditions weren’t right, but for what ever reason it isn’t going as well as you feel it should. Then...
Jun 15, 2016
I have found something that is practical when it comes to working a new show. You need “shake down” time…the time it takes to actually work out the flaws and rough places in a new show. It’s amazing when I video one of my shows in early September when performing at a...
Jun 8, 2016
I once took a vent friend of mine with me to one of my school shows. This friend watched with interest as I did my 40 minute program and witnessed the routines that I presented to this audience of 400 kids. They roared with laughter at my puppets and the “bits of...
Jun 1, 2016
A motivational speaker I heard once said “it takes dedication to get the job done!” and no truer words can be said, especially when it comes to the art of ventriloquism. Let’s face it, ventriloquism is not instant gratification. It definitely takes work..lots and lots...
May 25, 2016
I am a firm believer in reusing material or taking parts (cannibalizing)from an old show to make it fit into a new show. The only caveat is to make sure that the show you are dissecting isn’t one you did recently for the same group. If it is too recent the kids,...
May 18, 2016
To tell you the truth I shouldn’t even have to write this column. It’s about interjecting some adult humor into a children’s or family show, under the guise that the young people in the audience won’t get it. Some claim the jokes are over the heads of the kids present...
May 11, 2016
That’s a question worth pondering about for a few minutes, who is, or are, your “comedy” mentors. Now It COULD be a ventriloquist who is your favorite, or it may be someone else, like a comedian or someone you saw on television. Although I have several favorite...
May 4, 2016
Many of you reading this are probably scratching your collective heads wondering what the heck I am talking about. It’s really simple, do you have a favorite market or a market that you feel you relate to especially well. One that satisfies you and that you can...
May 2, 2016
Dear Followers of Maher Studios and the IVS, It’s Mark Wade here, offering up an apology to all of you for all the typos and fragmented words in some of my recent posts here at Maher. As many of you know, I suffered from an essential tremor for many months and...
